Valve sends an explanation for why Half-Life 2 is not being activated at this
time in spite of the couple reports of it being available at retail already:

Half-Life 2 For Sale?

If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting
to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not
yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its
contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this
time.

Thanks for your patience and we will update you when we have more news to
share.

As concise an explanation of the press release as you could ever hope for.

But let's face it, Valve aren't doing away with publishers, they're BECOMING a publisher. I can see the time a few years down the line when STEAM has been spun off into a seperate company and closes the doors on Valve because it's no longer profitable. Remember, we all loved EA when they started.

Your posting this just hoping you end up being right, right? It'll be very difficult spinning off technology that is tightly integrated within your own software. Are you saying Steam would ditch Valve because Valve is no longer profitable?

"Let's see, if they actually gave us a discount, like $44.99 (vs $49.99 store price) then I'd actually feel sorry for them, but all they are doing is trying to cut out the publisher (yes, the publisher that gave them the funding to produce the game in the first place!) and stuff their pockets full of money."

Yes, that's right, the standard game is about $55 from most of the big places (ebgames, Best Buy, CompUSA, and others). Sure, you get a nice "box" and some archival CD's, but that doesn't bother me. I still have a bunch of free DVD-R's lying around that I can burn everything onto.

The Steam Silver package comes with everything the Collector Edition package has, except the Prima Book and an XL T-Shit. Both of which I wouldn't even want for free.

The Steam Gold packages comes with more stuff than the Collector Edition, but $10 USD more. Some of the stuff it comes with I would like (poster, soundtrack, etc).

I don't blame people for buying the box set; I almost did. It has its advantages. But complaining about the price is just stupid.

"Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you." -Fry, Futurmama

"Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you." -Fry, Futurama

Neeleyman - are your textures that are displaying incorrectly just a load of multicoloured squares, the kind you might see on a corrupted JPEG image ? *SPOILER* One place that sticks out as it being very dominant is right after you get the crowbar from Barney and have to smash the 3 wooden planks across the chain link fence gate - either side of the gate is like it for me.

"Let's see, if they actually gave us a discount, like $44.99 (vs $49.99 store price) then I'd actually feel sorry for them, but all they are doing is trying to cut out the publisher (yes, the publisher that gave them the funding to produce the game in the first place!) and stuff their pockets full of money."

Umm, no. Valve has stated on numerous occasions that they funded HalfLife 2 OUT OF POCKET. That's the only reason it's been a full 4 year development cycle: VU couldn't call the shots.

One complaint - the levels are loaded just like in the original - in the middle of nowhere. But unlike last time, where it took a few seconds to load, in the sequel it takes a minute or two - and I have 1.5 gigs of memory! Takes you out of the game by disrupting the immersion.

yeah, having fired up HL:S prior to HL2 the difference in load times is palpable, though for me, as in HL1, you gain a sense for when a tranition is going to happen.

And I absolutely agree you find yourself wanting to just. keep. playing.

Logged in *right* at midnight PST, took a little less than 10 mins to authenicate, then I grabbed HL:S. Such a feel of polish in the game so far. The City scenes seem alive and definitely convey a large expanse of space. The AI at first on 'normal' is challenging enough, a few spots so far where I end up in the 20s and find a health right where I need it. How do they do that?!

Initial impressions - has the look and feel of the original. Only played about 10 minutes or so - quite a few scripted sequences, but they are well crafted and work as designed. I am already starting to hate the Combine.

One complaint - the levels are loaded just like in the original - in the middle of nowhere. But unlike last time, where it took a few seconds to load, in the sequel it takes a minute or two - and I have 1.5 gigs of memory! Takes you out of the game by disrupting the immersion.

All in all though - I think I am going to like this game. I can't quit put my finger on it, but there is just that something that makes me want to continue onwards and keep playing the game - just to reach that next goal. And once it is reached, something else happens, and I want to reach the next goal. And the next, and next, and so one.

Just like in the original game. This is a VERY good thing.

This is the feeling that was missing in Doom 3. Pretty and flashy graphics, but no gameplay. HL2 graphics may not be as fancy as Doom 3 (when you can see something in the darkness), but Source is pretty high up there. I would rate the Source graphics better then that of Far Cry, and up to par with Doom 3, but in a different way. The lighting is not as fancy as in Doom 3, but everything else is there in spades.

Okay, I gotta go and get ready for work. HL2 will have to wait untill the Christmas break after exams. And then I will play through HL-Source for nostalgia, and then start HL2.

Anyone else getting the odd texture problem in the game, looks like some textures havent been decrypted or something.

Theres not many, only seen about 4 or so but kinda spoils everything.

First one was right at the start just after speaking to the security guard who removed his helmet (leaving spoilers out) and you had to pile crates up to get out of the window - there was a whole load of multi coloured blocks as the floor texture on the top floor up the ladder.